mia macy

A former law professor now on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a transgender woman who “knew it was wrong” when she lost a job offer have changed the course of transgender history. The first article in a BuzzFeed News series on transgender rights in America.

“[A]llegations of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation necessarily state a claim of discrimination on the basis of sex” barred by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled in a groundbreaking decision this week.

In cases against both government and private employers, transgender workers — with the federal government’s backing — are successfully using the Civil Rights Act’s sex discrimination protections to fight anti-transgender discrimination.

Yesterday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that transgender people are protected under federal sex discrimination law. We talked to the transgender detective whose complaint led to this historic decision.